I tried using a broker, saw little action, and those that came seemed to want the perfect apartment.

Then I posted on Craigslist (once I figured out to enter anything in the company field), and found a very nice renter in one day (and many others interested.) I did my own background check, easily enough, through e-renter.com.

Thanks for all the good advice and, I'm sad to say, goodbye to Jersey City. You've got some flaws but you've come a long way since I moved here 13 years ago.

I have a 2 bedroom condo near JSQ that I used to live in but have rented out for the past 4 years using Craig's List. It is definitely a pain in the neck doing it on your own but doable if you live nearby.

If I lived outside of Jersey City and had to rent it out I would definitely use a realtor as some people definitely stand you up which is a frustrating huge waste of time. Although with experience you can almost tell from the initial phone call who will flake out. I remember one Friday where I left work early to meet 4 groups of people from 5:30 - 7:30 and none of them showed - from then on if multiple people called I asked them all to show up at the same time.

Regarding leases I would definitely go with a minimum of 1 year, get 1 1/2 month security deposit, and do a credit check. If you go for month to month you will definitely attract people of a more transient more unreilable nature. There is a definite correlation between lower credit and more headaches.

Good realtors will perform credit checks and contact previous landlords and employers so hopefully the tenant will not default on their lease. With that said, if they tenant defaults, it is the landlords responsibility to go after them. The realtors I deal with will find me another tenant and they will not charge a fee to that tenant just to get my rentals occupied again.

If you rent out an apartment using a Realtor, and you run into issues later on (e.g. late rent payments, eviction, noise, etc), does the Realtor help in anyway to resolve those issues? Or are they "done" once the apartment is rented out for you?

You should absolutely use a Realtor! It does not cost you anything to rent your place out. The broker will take care of the credit checks, leases and showing schedules. A good broker will also advertise on Craigslist for you, they will take photos and market your property.

missmags wrote:Pets are always a disaster when they leave and in my experience when you let them have a dog, they bring along all their other animal friends.

How wrong you are.

I've been a dog owner since 1986. I've only had two dogs one a 80 lb Chow and the other an 130 lb Akita. Each rental I was required to follow state licensing laws, have my dog on my renters insurance policy and supply a letter of recommendation from my former landlord. When I decided to add on another pet (a cat) I asked my landlord. I have never had a pet cause any damage to the apartment/condo except from my Akita eating my 3000.00 couch when I went back to work. Each place I've moved from was left cleaner than how it was when I moved in. If your tenants left the place a mess it's basically because they were pigs not the dogs. Get former landlord references and nothing wrong with asking for a dog reference as well. I'm the norm amongst most dog owners I know.

I have rented out furnished and non-furnished units - it is really up to what the tenants want. You can advertise an option to have it furnished to attract another subset of potential renters. Just be prepared to have your items used and potentially not returned in good working condition.

I would recommend a year lease - and not the bedroom rental option. You want a stable renter and a long term contract (not a month to month) to get started as a landlord.

Having done the Craigslist rental path and used a realtor, I would absolutely use a realtor. It doesn't cost you anything and the realtor will conduct the background check for you. I have used Chris Kearns in the past (another poster recommended him, too). He isn't at Avanti anymore - his contact information is below. He is one the best agents in the area IMHO and I interviewed a lot of candidates before I went with Chris. You will be able to meet with your rental candidates prior to signing the lease.

Remember, you are going to have to change your condo insurance to indicate that your unit is now leased. Check also with your condo board for their rules and regulations about renters. My insurance prevented me from having renters with dogs - and they do check to see if you're living up to that end of the bargain. I wouldn't rent to a smoker or a pet owner. Anthony Petrocci of Petrocci Agency in Jersey City (Kennedy Blvd) can help you with your insurance if you need a good local contact. To protect your investment, you can also write in to the lease that your renter must have rental insurance.

If your condo has a move in/move out fee - make sure it is stipulated clearly in the lease who is responsible for paying that - along with any other fees like parking, fitness center, etc. imposed by the condo that would relate specifically to your renter.

Make sure your lease is rock solid (your realtor will help you) and take the advice of the wise poster who said to run your rental relationship like a business. It is very, very true. Stipulate clearly who will be residing in your residence (ie; Jack Smith, Jane Smith, and their child, Percy Smith) and the policy for guests, etc.

Take photographs/video of your condo prior to leasing it so you have before/after comparisons in case you run in to a problem.

Sutherland wrote:I actually have a dog, I'm a landlord and I do not allow pets. It's not that I'm assuming pet owners aren't going to be responsible, I just don't want the added risk of the chance of the pet owner not being responsible. There are plenty of pet free tenants out there to make this easy. So the petless requirement is an easy thing to employ. Also, I have a multi unit building, so I don't want one tenant complaining about the noise the other tenant's pet may or may not be reasonably making.

The other part of this is that you might make a reasoned decision on a tenant with a small well behaved dog that you met and approved, and then another tenant sees it, figures dogs are now OK, and comes home with some giant noisy beast. It's simply easier to be a consistent landlord by saying no to dogs.

Slim26: There's lots of 100 ft bedrooms in this town, the architecture of the townhouse with a side stair often means there's a bedroom in front of and behind the stairwell on the upper floors that's 7-8 ft wide. Before we duplexed to a 2nd fl unit my own apt was a 700 ft 2 bedroom, now we have a 1250 ft 4 bedroom! Small bedrooms mean it's just that, a bed-room, dresser, and not much else, a closet if you're lucky. It's urban living...

Just one more thing on pets...They are totally your decision and sometimes desperate times calls for desperate measures (i.e. getting a tenant with a pet). If you choose to allow pets request a non-refundable pet deposit of $200 or so. I found this to be very helpful when the tenant moves out for cleaning up the pet hair and getting rid of any pet odor.

My pet policy is just based on personal experience. One woman asked if she can bring her dog. I said yes, she moved in 2 dogs, 2 cats, some birds, a ferret and lord knows what else. When she moved out I had to hire a professional cleaning company to come in twice and get rid of the smell. Somehow though my tenants still manage to sneak pets into my pet free buildings. sigh!

I actually have a dog, I'm a landlord and I do not allow pets. It's not that I'm assuming pet owners aren't going to be responsible, I just don't want the added risk of the chance of the pet owner not being responsible. There are plenty of pet free tenants out there to make this easy. So the petless requirement is an easy thing to employ. Also, I have a multi unit building, so I don't want one tenant complaining about the noise the other tenant's pet may or may not be reasonably making.

Also disagree with missmags on the pet issue. I think you need to take it as conditional policy, meet the tenant and find out about the pet. Otherwise, you are really cutting down on good perspective tenants.

That is ridiculous to assume that someone with a dog is going to leave a mess behind and have all other pets in place all the time. Sounds like it's coming from someone who had never actually had a pet, because most pet owners are very responsible.

I say meet the tenants, and see what the deal with the pet is.

This is coming from someone that has an elderly dog (16 years), has no plans to get another one after it passes, but has been discriminated from apartments because of it.

I wasn't suggesting the OP discriminate based upon race, etc. I suggested he be "discriminating" if he sensed the potential tenant would not be hygienec, clean, problematic, not good with paying rent, shaddy etc.

Accurate Credit Bureau is great for credit checks and you can get a landlord preferred report for approx. $30.

Pets are always a disaster when they leave and in my experience when you let them have a dog, they bring along all their other animal friends.

Craigslist is a great place to advertise, posting pictures of the place are always helpful. If you will do a credit check make sure you put that in your posting as they will need to sign off on the credit check. Accurate Credit also has some free apartment applications.

Regardless of if you have a month to month or a 12 monthe lease it will be equally as hard to get them out. Once people stop paying rent and you want them out you would have to evict them regardless if month to month or not. I prefer signing a 1 year lease and hope and pray that they will not break the lease. You can add a break the lease clause to the lease and include a fee they would pay for breaking it.

I disagree with Sutherland on being able to discriminate. Unless you are an owner occupant of a building with less than 4 units you have to follow the guidelines every other landlord needs to follow and can not discriminate based on race, religon etc etc..

You could do this yourself. I would not attempt to rent out each bedroom separately. That will be a mess for a host or reasons. You could readily find a decent tenant for a two bedroom near Grove St. Depending on the condition of the unit you could probably get about $1650 to $1850, plus utilities. The rental market in JC is heating up a bit and will continue to do so through out the spring. I use AccurateCredit for my background checks and it's been pretty easy. Your own intuition and judgment will be necessary when evaluating a tenant. I don't take smokers nor people who have pets even though I have a dog. You can be as discriminating as you want to be without being offensive. Often times tenants don't care for a place as much as an owner would and they may not be as vigilant with their pet car and habits. Take a security deposit if 1 & 1/2 month's rent and deposit it in a landlord tenant account, then tell the tenant the name of the bank the funds are in. Also in the lease incorporate a provision for late fees when they are late with the rent that states clearly the late fee then becomes rent due. Enforce the late fee provision when they are 6 days late with the rent. Do not accept any excuse for the late rent. This is now a business. If you worked with a good realtor/broker when you purchased your place you could give that person a call for some tips. They may likely be willing to help.

If you're still feeling like you would rather do this through a realtor I would call Chris Kearns over at Avanti or Warren Curtin.